Attention ELITE Cyclists in Rosslyn

[arlrider]

Yes, I am referring to the deadly crossing eastbound on the Custis across Lynn towards the confluence with the Mt. Vernon. Every single morning when the light is red, I and anywhere from a couple to a couple dozen other cyclists queue up on the Custis along Lee Highway waiting for the light. Much like “cars” would do on a “road”, MOST of us stay to the right of the clearly painted line down the middle of the trail. However, certain ELITE cyclists have received an exception to those rules which allow them to fly by the entire line of waiting bikes to the very front by using the left lane of the trail. It seems to me that using the “left lane” of the trail would be very similar to driving in the “left lane” of a “road”, which in the presence of solid lines I understand to be “illegal”. Yet these very special ELITE cyclists have been granted the right to do this. They then speed across the crossing with Lynn, usually on my very left, when I am trying to TURN LEFT towards Key Bridge, blocking me off, even when I am signalling a left turn. Then the people going the other way, inbound into Arlington, well they usually almost run into these ELITE cyclists. who are continuing on to the Mt. Vernon.

I understand that to wait for others of us who have politely lined up at the stop line in the correct lane of the trail would lose you PRECIOUS seconds off of your timed rides and endanger your VERY PRECIOUS cycling careers, but could you ever think of doing the right thing and not being a menace to society? Or, if you have so little regard for the others of us who are crossing in an organized manner, could you just give us a slap in each of our faces as you ride by to reinforce how your really feel?

Topic

[TwoWheelsDC]

@dasgeh 33773 wrote:

I’m not familiar with Jones Point Park — what do they do there to encourage separation?

Just a painted white line and a sign that says “pedestrians only on shoulder.” While I appreciate the signage, the phrasing is vague and could be interpreted to mean “bikes not allowed on shoulder” or “pedestrians not allowed on bike path.” My guess is that the intention is the latter, but who knows…

http://www.thewashcycle.com/2012/07/never-mind-the-bollards-heres-jones-point-park.html

[JeffC]

@dasgeh 33773 wrote:

My dream Custis would have grade separation between peds and cyclists. I.e. cars would drive in normal lanes, then there’d be a little curb or similar, and bikes would ride on lanes at that level. Then there’d be a normal curb, and pedestrians would have a normal sidewalk. It would also help if the sidewalk looked more like a sidewalk (scored concrete, no lines, etc) and the bike lanes looked like something for wheels (no scoring, asphalt if possible, clear yellow lines). I’m not familiar with Jones Point Park — what do they do there to encourage separation?

That’s the way many sidewalks are in Germany and Austria, perhaps rather than a normal curb the ped and bike parts are separated with metal poles every few yards, a very slight curb (maybe an inch or two high), or different colored pavement. In any event, there are frequent signs or markings on the pavement indicating where bikes and peds go. Alas this is not very friendly for the ELITE ones who should just stick to the streets.

[RESTONTODC]

@dasgeh 33749 wrote:

This is what I hope can happen with the Custis in Rosslyn. Too many ped/cyclist conflicts, especially because the hill creates larger speed differences.

Since there is very little use of Lee High way West right lane, can they make it both direction bike lanes similar to 15th street and leave the sidewalk for pedestrians?

[TwoWheelsDC]

@dasgeh 33773 wrote:

My dream Custis would have grade separation between peds and cyclists. I.e. cars would drive in normal lanes, then there’d be a little curb or similar, and bikes would ride on lanes at that level. Then there’d be a normal curb, and pedestrians would have a normal sidewalk. It would also help if the sidewalk looked more like a sidewalk (scored concrete, no lines, etc) and the bike lanes looked like something for wheels (no scoring, asphalt if possible, clear yellow lines). I’m not familiar with Jones Point Park — what do they do there to encourage separation?

Paris has a few places like you describe…unfortunately, it’s clear that grade separation isn’t a cure all:

[IMG]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9QSouUCQaGk/TzfSTlCCt0I/AAAAAAAAAGE/oWASCTRb21k/s1600/IMG_0023.JPG[/IMG]

[Amalitza]

@Rootchopper 33766 wrote:

For a few hundred yards in the new Jones Point Park, there are three lanes on the Mount Vernon Trail. The lane on the far right is designated for pedestrians. The other two are bicycle lanes. More often than not pedestrians use the bike lanes anyway.

True, but to be fair to the pedestrians in the bike lanes, I’m pretty sure the lanes are not specifically marked as such, (though common sense might suggest their intended uses). At least, last Sunday when I was riding through there and started to get annoyed by people jogging in the bike lane, I looked around for ped/bike markings in the lanes and didn’t see any, so decided it probably wasn’t fair to get annoyed. There might have been a sign somewhere I’d already passed, but I didn’t see it and don’t remember having seen one anywhere previously (which doesn’t mean it’s not there; sometimes my powers of observation leave a bit to be desired).

Separate lanes for pedestrians and bicycles is a great thing, but it’s rare. It seems like a couple bike and walking guy silhouettes painted in the lanes would go a long way to letting people know the intended use of each lane. Especially southbound folks; the pedestrian lane is the farthest left-hand lane for southbound traffic, so it might not be that intuitive to joggers and walkers heading south to use it.

[dbb]

There is a link to the presentation of the current plan for the Lynn/Lee intersection in the notes from the Oct Arlington Bike Advisory Committee meeting

http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?3174-Arlington-Bike-Advisory-Committee-Notes-Oct-2012&p=33296#post33296

[arlrider]

@dbb – thanks for the post of the notes from the meeting. I’d not heard anything so, uh, concrete (pun intended) on the matter in some time.

One thing that I thought was interesting was this:

“The new Custis Trail heading uphill by the Marriott hotel will be 16 feet wide (up from 10 feet). Note: this corrects earlier information from previous ABAC notes. Schedule shows design completion in 2013 followed by construction. The plans include strategies to remove signal cabinets and other boxes from the trail.”

This seems to conflict with the fact that they’ve spent the last month or two tearing the trail all to hell right there, installing even MORE stuff in the boxes, and putting into place that giant overhead sign supported by a huge column that is just off the trail.

[dasgeh]

@JeffC 33776 wrote:

That’s the way many sidewalks are in Germany and Austria

So I never claimed that my idea was original… (I used to live in Germany)

Thanks for the reminder on the ABAC notes. Unfortunately, I missed that meeting. My understanding is that there are two phases to the “fixing the Custis in Rosslyn” project: 1) Arlington will do what it can “behind the right of way” (i.e. with easier VDOT approval) and 2) Arlington will work with VDOT for bigger structural changes, like taking away the third lane of Lee Hwy. 2 should take longer.

I’m concerned from the notes that “we” (engineers in Arlington, cyclists who use this “trail”) are not all on the same page as far as the ultimate goal. If Arlington’s proposal to VDOT for 2 is just a wider glorified sidewalk, I fear we’re wasting a huge opportunity (we’re gaining a car lane and all we get is 6 more feet?!?!?!).

[Author]

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